Michigan

REVIEW: "Betrayal"

Out of context, many conversations in Harold Pinter's "Betrayal," now being staged by Michigan Classical Repertory Theatre, would have the dull veneer of stilted small talk. The three main characters talk about squash games, what they're reading, and what's happening with their kids, among other day-to-day trifles.

Yet because we learn from the opening scene that Emma (Wendy Katz Hiller) had once had a seven year affair with her husband Robert's (Carl Hanna) married best friend, Jerry (Brian Harcourt), the most mundane exchanges between these three characters become suddenly charged with edge-of-your-seat intensity.

Pinter's play moves backward in time, beginning two years after the affair has ended, and ending at the affair's point of origin. This reverse structure engages audience members in a constant quest to ascertain who knew what when, and also to parse lie from truth, amid all the polite, friendly, British chatting over drinks.

The cast's English accents are more subtly suggestive than life-like, which generally works just fine; and the actors employ Pinter's trademark dialogue pauses with thoughtfulness and skill.

Director Wendy Wright wanted the production - which was largely rehearsed in her living room - to have a sense of intimacy and voyeurism, and on this measure, it succeeds in spades. This is largely thanks to Hiller and Harcourt's commitment to their characters' love scenes, which are viscerally passionate without being vulgar. Both give excellent performances generally, with Harcourt shining particularly in the first and the last scenes.

The set design by Isaac Ellis - who seems to have a great time playing an Italian waiter, also - is simple but effective, with a double bed in the forefront as a kind of thematic nucleus.

My one quibble with the production concerns its final moment, which feels far too muted - so much so that even after the lights fell, audience members didn't know the show had ended.

Overall, though, this is a wholly satisfying "Betrayal." The play's program notes that MCRT will be on hiatus for a time, but productions like this make me hope the company will be back soon.

"Betrayal" plays at 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday, through May 16 at the Riverside Arts Center, 76 N. Huron St. in Ypsilanti. Tickets cost $18, $15 for students and seniors; to purchase tickets, visit www.mcrt.org, or call 734-214-6600.